Grisly `Rampage' Raises Questions

Step aside, Dr. Lecter. Charles Reece has slipped in to raise even more terrible nightmares than Hannibal the Cannibal.

As played by the lean, boyishly handsome, yet eerily dreamy Alex McArthur in William Friedkin's "Rampage," Reece brings cannibalism and vampirism to suburban Stockton, Calif.

The portrait of a grisly serial killer -- who executes a man, a child and three woman, eviscerating and sexually assaulting his female victims -- has a low-budget look and only one name actor, Michael Biehn. Thus far, its visibility is exceedingly limited. But "Rampage" shows Friedkin can still shake up and provoke an audience.

Even with more high-powered promotion, "Rampage" never could achieve the acclaim and success of Friedkin's back-to-back hits, "The French Connection" (1971) and "The Exorcist" (1973). Not only is the story of Charles Reece much more gruesome than "The Exorcist," but Friedkin also wants to make his audience think about difficult, even unanswerable questions.

"Rampage," made in 1987, has been restored by Miramax Films.

After its striking beginning with a quick, striking shot of a young man stepping into the center of the frame and hurrying away, "Rampage" zeroes in on the issue of gun control. After staking out his first victims, the long-haired, amiable Reece buys a small-caliber handgun. There is a two-week waiting period. But Reece has the time.

On Dec. 21, Reece rings the bell of a little house on a well-kept, nondescript street, pushes in the older woman who opens the door and coolly shoots her down. Then he fells a middle-aged man and his wife -- all with a smile on his face.

At last, with the younger woman writhing and screaming in agony, Reece takes a carving knife from the kitchen and goes about his grisly work.

Carefully, he pulls down a window shade on this bright winter day, as children play in the yard next-door. Intercut with a church service attended by the young Stockton district attorney, Anthony Fraser, and his wife, the matter-of-fact, ritualistic triple-killing ranks with one of the most visceral and frightening

sequences in recent movies.

After this symbolic joining of the fates of the killer and his prosecutor-to-be, Friedkin's adaptation of the novel by former Sacramento District Attorney William P. Wood takes on a documentary feel. The narrative traces the investigation, the arrest, pretrial procedures and the courtroom duel between the prosecutor and the public defender.

In portraying the struggles of a liberal district attorney who decides he must pursue the death penalty, Friedkin sets up a tough-minded debate over capital punishment. Should society work to rehabilitate a multiple killer? Or should it ensure that he never can go free again, by demanding the death penalty?

Through the intense, guilt-ridden, thoughtful performance by Biehn, and McArthur's softly drawn portrayal of a Nazi Satanist who believes he must drink blood to survive, Friedkin seems to argue in favor of capital punishment. Yet he also strikes at the heart of the judicial/law-enforcement system, with quick, incisive looks at invasive police procedures and the tainted or knee-jerk psychiatric witness.

Biehn gives a deeply felt portrayal of a conscientious man making hard life-and-death decisions. There also is a wrenching performance by the overweight, commonplace Royce D. Applegate as the husband and father of two of Reece's victims, and a revealing portrayal of the killer's wraithlike, once-abused mother by Grace Zabriskie. But even with limited distribution, "Rampage" should be remembered by making a terrifying new star of a "Psycho" for the '90s, Alex McArthur.

Rated R, this film contains many scenes overflowing with blood, some ghastly shots of corpses and body parts, unnerving moments of non-graphic violence and fleeting mentions of the killer's sexual perversities. There also is an upsetting subplot involving the death of a beautiful little girl.

Film review , Directed and written by William Friedkin; based on the novel by William P. Wood; director of photography, Robert D. Yeoman; music composed, orchestrated and conducted by Ennio Morricone; production designer, Buddy Cone; edited by Jere Huggins; produced by David Salven. A Miramax Films release, opening today at the Newington Cinema I-II-III. Running time: 97 minutes.